Assistant Professor, ISAT
gerkentx@jmu.edu
Contact Info
Education
- Ph.D. in Environmental & Atmospheric Science, University of Bayreuth (Germany)
- Diploma in Environmental Science, University of Bayreuth
Research Interests
- Environmental Systems Analysis
- Hydroclimatology & Hydrometeorology
- Land-Atmosphere interactions
- Ecosystem-Atmosphere Exchange
- Climate and Earth System Science
- Drought and Flash Drought
Experience
- Previous Appointments
- Assistant Research Professor, The Pennsylvania State University, Department of Meteorology and Atmospheric Science
- Research Associate, Montana State University, Department of Land Resources and Environmental Sciences
- Postdoctoral Scholar, The Pennsylvania State University, Department of Meteorology
- Visiting Researcher, Cambridge University (UK), Department of Geography
- Participation in Research Projects
- National Science Foundation, Uncovering the Role of Land-Atmosphere Feedbacks on Flash Drought Intensification, Severity, and Expansion
- National Science Foundation, Urban Lightning Research, 2021-present
- NASA Atmospheric Carbon & Transport America, 2018-2020
- Land-Atmosphere Interactions in the North American Northern Great Plains, 2016-2020
- DOE GreenOcean Amazon, 2014-2015
- DFG Priority Programme 1372, Tibetan Plateau: Formation - Climate -Ecosystems, 2009-2013
- Editorial Board Member, Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
- Working Group Member, National Ecological Observation Network (NEON), Technical Working Group on Surface Atmosphere Exchange
- Topic Editor Atmosphere, Earth System Science Data
Courses Taught
- ISAT 112: Environmental Issues in Science and Technology
- ISAT 300: Applied Computing, Instrumentation, and Measurement
- ISAT 320: Fundamentals of Environmental Science & Technology I
- ISAT 321: Fundamentals of Environmental Science & Technology II
- ENVT 400: Capstone Seminar in Environmental Problem Solving - The Plastics Problem
- ISAT 420: Environmental Analysis and Modeling
- ISAT 671: Sources, Sinks and Cycles: Energy, Water and Air I
Media
- Wildfire smoke leaves local impact on health, nature, Daily News-Record, Jul 24, 2023
- To the air for answers, Impact Magazine of PennState EMS, 2022
- NSF to fund two-year lightning study at JMU, The Breeze, April 22, 2021
- Can we stop climate destruction?, Democracy-Matters Podcast, Episode 57, April 21, 2021
- How farmers on the Great Plains are changing the local climate, MassiveSci.com, April 11, 2018
College of Integrated Science and Engineering
